Cigars contain nicotine, the substance in tobacco that addicts people. Cigar smokers who inhale absorb nicotine through the lungs as quickly as cigarette smokers. For those who do not inhale, the nicotine absorbs more slowly through the lining of the mouth. Cigar smoke dissolves more easily in saliva than cigarette smoke. This means cigar smokers can get the desired dose of nicotine without inhaling the smoke into their lungs. People who use oral or spit tobacco products absorb nicotine the same way. Nicotine in any form is highly addictive.
Even though people smoke cigars for different reasons, the fact is, like cigarettes, cigars deliver nicotine. Most full size cigars have as much nicotine as several cigarettes. Cigarettes contain an average of about 8 milligrams (mg) of nicotine, but only deliver about 1 to 2 mg of nicotine to the smoker. Many popular brands of larger cigars contain between 100 and 200 mg, or even as many as 444 mg of nicotine. The amount of nicotine a cigar delivers to a smoker can vary a great deal even among people smoking the same type of cigar. How much nicotine is taken in depends on a number of things like:
- How long the person smokes the cigar
- How many puffs are taken
- Whether or not the smoker inhales
Given these factors and the large range of cigar sizes, it is almost impossible to make good estimates of the amounts of nicotine larger cigars deliver.
With respect to small cigars, Health Canada estimates that the filtered little cigars that are the size and shape of cigarettes contain about the same amount of nicotine as a cigarette. If these are smoked like cigarettes (inhaled), they would be expected to deliver a similar amount of nicotine, but this has not been fully tested.
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